Automatic oil-cup



C; E. COX.

AUTOMATIC OIL CUP. A'PPLlcATloN FAILED SEPT. 22. 1919.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Inllll-Ilnulwm.

UNITED STATES CLAUDE E.r COX, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

AUTOMATIC OIL-CUP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Application led September 22, 1919. Serial No. 325,373.

To @ZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, CLAUDE E. Cox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of YWayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Oil- Cups, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic oil cups and has for its general object to provide an oil cup that will function to produce a recurrent or substantially constant, but moderate or non-flooding, feed of oil due to vibration of the cup. A further obj ect of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive and effective mechanism, that is easy to manufacture, is readily assembled and disassembled for cleaning, and is not apt to get out of operative condition when inY use.

To these ends, and for the attainment of other objects which will become apparent from the following description, my invention resides in the features of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, with parts broken away, of an oil cup embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-section therethrough; Fig. 3 is a section showing in a modified construction an embodimentv of my invention and Figa is an elevation of the Fig. 3 construction.

In the drawings the cylindrical oilcup body or receptacle 10, cover 11, pipe-bend l2, and hollow bolt 13 with a distribution orifice 14: represent conventional parts of such a structure as may well be used to constitute a self-oiling bolt for automobile springs. It will be understood, however, that my invention is not limited to such conventional parts which merely typify the presence of a suitable hollow body, or cup proper, to receive the oil, a cover therefor, and an outlet channel through which the oil may flow by gravity. Into the outlet duct, that is to say, into the pipe bend 12 at the bottom of body 10, a hollow post or standpipe is screwed, this having a central bore 17 that at its upper end, is preferably counterbored as at 18 to form a thin edge 19 at the top of the stem and a suitable bevel or slope to lead the oil down into the bore 17. This post may extend well above the center of the body 10, so that its upper end may be well above the normal or intended oilline, but its end is spaced from the cover 11. 1Vlhile the post may be smooth as shown in Fig.. 2, I prefer to form therein encircling or circumferential grooves which Vmay be parallel or spiral, as shown at 20, Fig. 3, cach groove being of such acute angular shape as to afford a nearly flat bottom with a rather sharp edge and an inclined backwall. Slidably mounted on the stem 16 is a sleeve 22 preferably of sucient length to cover a plurality of grooves and to insure easy, non-clutching sliding', such sleeve having a thickened portion or cu 23 at its upper end so that the off-set 2li may rest upon a light conical spring 25 that bottoms on the body 10. The cull" may be concentric withthe sleeve axis, but I prefer to make it eccentric as shown at 2e, so that the weight thereof is unbalanced. As normally positioned by the spring the freely slidable sleeve entends somewhat above the top of the stem 16, but is below the cover 11 and the oil level may be anywhere between the top of the sleeve and the bottom thereof. It will be observed (Fig. 1) that where a concentric cuff is employed on the sleeve it is preferable that the spring shall make contact with the under-side of the cuflz at one side only, sothat the pressureY of the spring is slightly unbalanced, the relative imbalance, in any eventwthat is, due to the unbalanced spring pressure or the unbalancing action of the eccentric cuff-weightbeing sufficient to make one side of the top part of the sleeve tend to hug the top of the post or stem.A In view of the length of the sleeve this unbalancing does not interfere materially with the sliding movement of the sleeve, but it does greatly enhance the positiveness of the oil feed.

In use, all vibrationsof the cup that have a vertical component, tend to cause the sleeve to vibrate vertically, the spring 25 being so light as to permit the sleeve to ride up and down materially under even comparatively light vibrations. The sleeve, vibrating on the stem, carries up with itV an oil film between the adjacent surfaces, and enough oil is thus fed over the sharp upper edge 19 of the stem to iind its way in material quantities through the central duct 17 of the stem. This feeding action is enhanced by the provision ofthe grooves or ssi sof

oil-steps 20, which tend to retard downward movement of the oil between the stem and sleeve surfaces, to effect good circumferential distribution and to prevent the upperV tions, more active, if the relation between the sleeve and spring is one of unbalance as described. rlhis unbalance tends to` make one side of the sleeve hug the corresponding side of the post, especially when the sleeve is raised, and so on descent of the tube the oil film is scraped off along that side with certainty. This scraping action is important and especially so where rather thick oils are employed, because the oil film is thereby prevented from separating the post and sleeve in perfect concentricity, in which instance the oil'tends merely to work up and down with the sleeve and not to enter the stem duct. The relation of the stated parts, in the matter of the sleeve extending above the end of the post or stem, the sharpedging of the post-end, the relative unbalancing of the sleeve and spring, the elongation of the sleeve for easy sliding action, are all of materiality in securing that ease and certainty of operation that characterize my oiler. In practice I so proportion the weight of the sleeve and the strength of the spring that under the expected conditions 0f vibration the action of the sleeve is rather short and in the nature of a rapid, brief series of short excursions rather than wild bouncings, but of coursethe cover limits the throw of the sleeve in any event and I find in practice that the device as shown is very efficacious in feeding` the oil, working practically as well when the oil supply is low or vnear the bottom of the sleeve as whenV it is at its highest appropriate level.

Furthermore, Y the construction; described lends itself well t0 cleaning in case the oil duct shall clog, such clogging; of course, being most apt to occur at the outlet orifice 14 or point of oil delivery which often (usually in automobile practice) is more or less apt to become dust-fouled. The straight smooth bore 17 of the stem will receive a plunger rod 25 that lits so snugly in the bore 17 that when the bore is oil-filled and the rod pushed down, very considerable force may be exerted to remove any clogging in the Voil pipe. In like manner of course oil may be manually force-fed for lubrication in eX- cess of the normally automatic feed. If dee sired the plunger rod may have through its body a duct 26 controlled by an outwardly closing check-valve 27, so that the tool is substantially solid" or impervious, in effect, when pressed down, but when withdrawn admits air through the check-valve so as not to suck back the obstruction into the oil body. The cover may comprise a shell 30 with apertures 31 and 32 respectively 'for oil Aand to receive the tool 25, the apertured surface being parti-spherical and on this curved surface may slide a closure plate 33, concaved for neat fit and pivoted near one side so that it ymay be rotated between the extremes of position shown in Figs. 8 and 1.

I do not claim the cover feature in this application, but reserve the same for other applications, pursuant to requirement of division.

While I have herein described in some detail a particular embodiment of my inven tion, Vit willk be understood that changes may be made in the details without departure from the spirit of my invention within the'scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An oil cup Vcomprising a receptacle having a cover, a vertical post therein, said post having an oil duct with a Haring mouth bounded by a thin edge,ra relatively long sleeve freely slidable on the post and a light spring coiled around the posti normally maintaining the sleeve in position with its top above the end of the post and below the cover. Y

2. An oil cup comprising a receptacle, a holow, opened-ended post upright in said receptacle, said post having exterior grooves encircling it, a sleeve slidable on said post and a spring normally positioning the sleeve on the post, permitting the sleeve to rise and fall upon vertical vibration of the receptacle so to feed-oil up between post and sleeve into the open end of the post.'

3. An oil cup equipment adapted for automatic normal feed and manual excess feed comprising a receptacle, a vertical post therein having a bore that is of uniform section throughout a portion of its length, a vibratable oil-feeding sleeve around the post and a removable manuallyV operatable plunger to interflt with said post-bore.

4. An oil cup adapted to feed as a result of vibration thereof, comprising an oil receptacle, a vertical post therein extending upwardly to above the intended high-liquidlevel and having an oil duct open at its upper end, a relatively long sleeve surrounding the post and extending below the intended higheliquid-level and freely slidable to coact with the open end of the post in its vertical vibration-impelled movements, and a light coiled spring sustaining the sleeve in its normal position for ready vertical vibratory displacement, the spring and sleeve being in sleeve-unbalancing relation to cause one side of the sleeve near its top to tend to scrape on the top edge of the post, for the purposes set forth.

5. An oil cup comprising a receptacle having an upright hollow post therein, a sleeve surrounding the post to leave an oiliiln'r space, and normally extending above the post-end, and a spring sustaining the sleeve in normal position for ready vertical vibration to Carry an oil-film on the sleeve to a point above the post-end, said sleeve and spring being in unbalanced relation for the purposes set forth.

6. An oil cup comprising a receptacle 15 having an upright hollow post therein, a

sleeve surrounding the post to leave an oililrn space therebetween and normally eX- tending above-the post-end, and a spring supporting the sleeve for ready vertical vibration, said sleeve being eecentrically weighted for the purposes set forth.

7. An oil cup comprising a receptacle having an upright hollow post therein, a sleeve surrounding the post to leave an 0ilfilm space therebetween and normally eX tending above the post-end, and a spring Supporting the sleeve for ready vertical vibration, said sleeve having an eccentric Gulf thereon, for the purposes set forth.

CLAUDE E. COX. 

